This is the first winter for 5 years we have been able to get ahead with the pre-season preparation of both courses. This is due to the course construction work to complete the Mackenzie & Ebert project.

The last part of this project, 14th green Admirals, will open at the very earliest 15th May if it is ready. If not we will keep you updated on a month by month basis. We will not open the green until it is fully ready and comparable to the rest of the course. You will be surprised how quickly the grass will tiller and thicken up once the ground temperature is suitable.

Specific areas of the course we intend to improve this year.

Fairways, Greens, Bunkers & Paths

Fairways.

Last years drought hit all courses fairways nationwide really badly. Ours came out reasonably well, comparatively, as we have predominantly drought resistant fescue grasses. Despite this we will not only recover the fairways to where they were but we plan to thicken the sward by verti-draining/coring, fertilising and over seeding them in Spring. The end objective is to make them a lusher surface to play from.

Greens.

Our greens winter very well and are playable all year round. However during the summer season the timescale that they are very good is not long enough compared to our competitors. We have sourced advise from top agronomist David Stansfield and he has given our team the tools and knowledge to rectify this. In particular there will be some very heavy top dressing in Spring which may be quite disruptive to the playing surface but should pay dividends once completed. There is no reason why we cannot produce the best greens in the County. We have the staff, the irrigation and resources to do this.

Bunkers.

All bunkers need re-edging and repair to any sand splash areas. All bunkers also need to be kept stone free, which is an ongoing problem for Heathland courses due to granular convection. Despite this, the ground staff rake any bunkers that need doing every day and any stones that have come to the surface are removed. Therefore there is no reason for any large stones to be undiscovered or for any bunkers to be short of sand. In the unlikely event that our staff have missed either of these areas please email the ground staff asap on Greenstaff@oakmere.club and we will make sure they are attended to immediately.

Paths.

Due to the nature and material of the paths they will get a lot of wear during heavy showers and will show the undulations and puddles. Normally these drain off or are brushed off by the staff once the rain stops. If there are any that have become pot holes and you may consider them a tripping hazard please email on the address above so we can attend to it immediately. You will also see we have already begun to repair the end of most paths and inserted rubber matting to reduce wear between path and fairway. These will then be over seeded and hooped off until ready to use.

Specific holes.

Admirals 1st.

New grass matting on heavy wear area on tee which will be over seeded in Spring for grass to grow through. Clear out gorse and foliage to expose fairway. Create new grass pedestrian path.

Admirals 2nd.

Clearing a wind tunnel behind the green to allow free flow of air to help dry the green during the winter.

Wear area on right hand exit side of green will be a heavy wear matting which will be over seeded in Spring

3rd hole.

To improve speed of play we have designated all the area right of the stream from the start of the old pond all the way up to the green. Therefore you do not have to find the ball in the trees you can just drop a ball on the point it crossed the red stakes, penalty of 1 shot.

8th hole

Removed the 5 pines on the left blocking the left side of the green. New path from 8th to 9th tee.

10th hole.

Removing 2 more pines left of the big oak to enable poor tee shots or short drive to have a shot directly down to the green.

12th hole.

Removed bushes in front of winter tee to gain view of green.

16th/17th

Building new path to 17th tee for when new 14th hole is open.

18th hole

Move fence and increase height. Plant gorse along fence line to soften the line. There will be approx. 8- 10 yards of fairway from the line of the fence and the rest will become fairway. The bare earth left by removing the posts are GUR and you can take a drop. These naturally will be seeded in Spring. Trees in the fairway run out have been cleared of brambles.

Commanders course

Fairway bunkers have been re-edged on 1 & 3.

4th fairway and right hand bank will be re-seeded and left longer to prevent balls bouncing in from the right.

7th green.

New path for trollies and buggies on left through trees to protect bank.